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The Latest Horror News, Reviews, and AnalysisWed, 21 Feb 2018 19:59:09 +0000en-UShourly1http://www.ravenousmonster.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Mobile-Icon-60x60.pngRavenous Monsterhttp://www.ravenousmonster.com
3232Creepy Trailer Drops for THE LULLABY Opening March 2http://www.ravenousmonster.com/movies-tv/creepy-trailer-drops-lullaby-opening-march-2/
http://www.ravenousmonster.com/movies-tv/creepy-trailer-drops-lullaby-opening-march-2/#respondWed, 21 Feb 2018 19:59:09 +0000http://www.ravenousmonster.com/?p=5708We here at Ravenous Monster receive and subsequently post our fair share of movie trailers. Like their creators, these trailers come in a wide variety of cinematic shapes and flavors. Most of them are unremarkable. Not bad mind you, but not memorable. Exceptions to this norm are rare.

The new trailer for Darrell James Roodt’s forthcoming horror feature The Lullaby is one such exception.

Please continue below for the full press release and the trailer, Horror Fans….

BURBANK, CA: You’ll wish you never brought your baby home.

Uncork’d Entertainment gives birth to evil with the chilling The Lullaby, in theaters and VOD March 2.

Chloe is overwhelmed by the birth of her first child. The incessant crying of her baby, the growing sense of guilt and paranoia sends her into depression. With a heightened urge to protect her son, Chloe sees danger in every situation. She starts to hear voices, the humming of a childhood lullaby and sees flashes of a strange entity around her child. Convinced that the entity is real, Chloe will do everything in her power to protect her son. Is she haunted by evil or is it just the baby blues?

Reine Swart, Deànré Reiners, Thandi Puren, Brandon Auret, and Dorothy-Ann Gould star in a Darrell James Roodt film, opening in theaters across the U.S and available on VOD 3/2.

]]>http://www.ravenousmonster.com/movies-tv/creepy-trailer-drops-lullaby-opening-march-2/feed/0Bonehill Road Movie Reviewhttp://www.ravenousmonster.com/movies-tv/bonehill-road-movie-review/
http://www.ravenousmonster.com/movies-tv/bonehill-road-movie-review/#commentsTue, 13 Feb 2018 23:52:54 +0000http://www.ravenousmonster.com/?p=5701What do you get when you put together a pregnant mother and her daughter who are trying to escape an abusive home life, a creepy house (complete with a resident psychotic), horror favorites such as Linnea Quigley and Gary Kent, and werewolves? Why, you get Bonehill Road(2017), of course! The latest in over-the-top gory tale brought to us from the darkly demented mind of writer/director Todd Sheets.

Whenever I’m asked what my favorite movie monster is, a lot of people are surprised when I tell them I’m a huge fan of the werewolf. Don’t get me wrong; I dig the occasional vampire or zombie, but werewolves have just always held a special place in my cold, dark heart. However, when I hear that there’s a ‘new’ werewolf movie being made or released, I’m always on the fence, because honestly there just haven’t been that many mind-blowingly fantastic werewolf movies made, sadly. So, once I saw that cult-movie maestro Todd Sheets had Bonehill Road in the works, my curiosity and optimism instantly grew. Werewolves and Linnea Quigley together? How could that be bad, right?

Because watching movies with a friend is more fun than watching them alone, I came up with a fun idea. I invited my sister-in-horror, Nez Wilburn, to join me in watching and reviewing Bonehill Road, too. So, with beers in hand and fun in mind, let’s get started. Did this movie leave us howling for more? Or did it leave us sulking away with our tails in between our legs? Without further ado, here’s what Nez and I thought of Bonehill Road….

This movie starts off with the viewer being introduced to our mother and daughter duo escaping from the clutches of a brutally abusive boyfriend. After disabling him and grabbing what few possessions they can muster in a timely fashion, they hit the road to head to the seemingly relative safety of Grandpa’s house only to jump from the frying pan into the fire, where werewolves and deranged psychopaths lurk in the cornfields of the idyllic countryside.

After trying to avoid hitting a large animal and ending up broken down in the middle of nowhere, they are attacked by toothsome creatures in the full moonlight and barely escape to a country farmhouse containing a sinister secret. Sequestered within its whitewashed façade is a psychotic cannibalistic killer and three of his hapless victims awaiting the evening’s moist and meaty dinnertime culmination.

After being taken hostage by their schizophrenic host, the women marshal their abilities to attempt to fight their way out of their situation only to be faced with siege conditions from the furry fanged threesome awaiting them outside the front door….

Fast forward past the end credits and we get to the cherry atop this gore-filled sundae: a KISS tribute band broken down on the side of Bonehill Road taking on the wolfy horde. (this scene was quite delightful….so definitely stay through the credits!).

I’m leaving it to Nez to perfectly put into words our final thoughts on Bonehill Road:

“I have a really hard time liking and appreciating low-budget horror for what it is, and especially Troma-like horror. I really *am* that asshole who sits there and picks apart episodes of The Walking Dead for technical and continuity failures on their part. Barb and I spent entirely too much time cracking up over the fact that mom’s facial lacerations and bruises seemed to relocate themselves to better property on her face from scene to scene. It was quite reminiscent of Eyegore’s traveling hump in the movie Young Frankenstein and a welcome laugh.

However…major props to the fact that all gore and creature effects were practical effects and zero CGI was in use. That was a pleasant surprise and I applaud the fact that a majority of the budget was sunk into making sure those details were well done and accounted for. A lot of money was put into the werewolves themselves and it shows, including a pretty sexy transformation scene a la An American Werewolf in London. If you don’t take this film too seriously and stay a little more tongue-in-cheek with it, you’ll probably get a kick out of it.”

]]>http://www.ravenousmonster.com/movies-tv/bonehill-road-movie-review/feed/2Trailer Drops for HELL’S KITTY Featuring Iconic All-Star Casthttp://www.ravenousmonster.com/movies-tv/trailer-drops-hells-kitty-featuring-iconic-all-star-cast/
http://www.ravenousmonster.com/movies-tv/trailer-drops-hells-kitty-featuring-iconic-all-star-cast/#respondWed, 07 Feb 2018 23:58:43 +0000http://www.ravenousmonster.com/?p=5695Filmmaker Nicholas Tana’s forthcoming horror-comedy feature Hell’s Kitty has an undeniable cast full of beloved horror film stalwarts. It’s an impressive list! Hell’s Kitty is also a horror flick whose antagonist is ostensibly a house cat. Honestly, that all leaves us intrigued if also a little unsure.

See what you think. Read the full press release and watch the trailer below, Horror Fans….

Doug Jones (The Shape of Water), Dale Midkiff (Pet Sematary), Michael Berryman (The Hills Have Eyes), Courtney Gains (The Children of The Corn), Lynn Lowry (Cat People), Kelli Maroney (Night of The Comet), Ashley C. Williams (The Human Centipede), Barbara Nedeljakova (Hostel), Adrienne Barbeau (The Fog), John Franklin (The Addams Family) and a ‘Killer Klown’ team up for some Pawplay this March!

Based on the web series and comic book of the same name and inspired by writer-director Nicholas Tana’s experiences living with a professedly possessed cat, Hell’s Kitty tells of a covetous feline that acts possessed and possessive of his owner around women. The results are as funny as they are frightening!

Nick (Tana), a Hollywood screenwriter, discovers his cat has become murderously possessed, and will stop at nothing to rid him of any women in his life. As his life unravels out of control, Nick must find a way to have his kitty exorcised of the demonic spirit haunting her and creating a body count.

With characters named after classic horror movie characters (Jones plays Father Damien, Berryman is Detective Pluto, Nina Kate is Dr. Laurie Strodes, Barbeau is Mrs. Carrie), and a tone reminiscent of some of the ‘80s greatest horror-comedies, Hell’s Kitty is undoubtedly the horror hiss of March!

Hell’s Kitty is written and directed by Nicholas Tana and produced by Denise Acosta.

To kick of the movie release and to share their love for cats, the creators behind the film teamed with HOLLYSHORTS MONTHLY SCREENINGS and the TLC CHINESE THEATER recently hosted a premiere at the legendary theatre to raise money for FixNation.org. FixNation provides a free, full-time spay/neuter clinic with two full-time veterinarians capable of sterilizing as many as 100 cats per day. They also help hundreds of cats find suitable homes. For more info on the cause click here.

Hell’s Kitty is available on all VOD platforms March 13, 2018 and on DVD March 27th, 2018 via Wild Eye Releasing.

]]>http://www.ravenousmonster.com/movies-tv/trailer-drops-hells-kitty-featuring-iconic-all-star-cast/feed/0Rise of the Harvester Book Two: Con of the Dead Graphic Novel Reviewhttp://www.ravenousmonster.com/books-comics/rise-harvester-book-two-con-dead-graphic-novel-review/
http://www.ravenousmonster.com/books-comics/rise-harvester-book-two-con-dead-graphic-novel-review/#respondTue, 30 Jan 2018 23:56:37 +0000http://www.ravenousmonster.com/?p=5688Horror artist and part-time comic book writer Steve McGinnis has unleashed the second volume of his page-and-panel slasher series Rise of the Harvester.

Entitled Book Two: Con of the Dead, this edition is a quick 60 pages that feature our protagonist/antagonist Samuel Troyer, a.k.a. The Harvester—an immortal serial killer who’s once again returned to the scene of his origin story (occurring at the turn of the 20th century) in the tiny rural town of Brantwood. Here he sets his sights on a convention center wherein, coincidentally, a horror con is in full swing.

Once inside, The Harvester begins brutally butchering a myriad of convention goers, all of whom are the embodiments of various geek-culture clichés and function as fodder for us to get our cathartic “slash on” alongside Mr. Harvester. It’s a lot of fun if not especially substantive.

Meanwhile, McGinnis’s Dr. Loomis character and preeminent Harvester expert—Dr. Johnson—appears to believe that the world needs The Harvester and that his being on the loose maybe isn’t so bad.

Visually, McGinnis takes a cinematic approach as evidenced by the dynamic compositions of his pages, from their illustrations to their layouts. There’s a thrilling kinetic illusion that his panels yield, and so far, it’s helped define his graphic novels as page-turners. If there ever was a literary analog to the proverbial Popcorn Flick, McGinnis’s books are it.

Story-wise, McGinnis’s decision to forgo certain major narrative ingredients this volume—namely, failing to provide his story with a clearly defined protagonist and antagonist, and instead making The Harvester function as both—begs the question how sustainable this tale can be going forward (or any slasher story [re: the majority 1980s horror cinema]). At some point these major story mechanics, or lack thereof, will need to be addressed. But, as we’re only two books in, the light-weight, easily digestible thrill-ride approach continues to work quite well for now.

Rise of the Harvester Book Two: Con of the Dead is a gory good time. If you’re a gratuitous slasher fan like we are you really can’t go wrong. Just check your expectations at the splash page and remember that Steve McGinnis isn’t trying to win the Pulitzer here.

Rise of the Harvester Book Two is available from Short, Scary Tales Publications.

After the death of her mother, an estranged daughter struggles to save her brother, and those around her from a malevolent faceless spirit.

Flay is available digitally 3/6 from Distribber.

﻿

]]>http://www.ravenousmonster.com/movies-tv/watch-trailer-flay-coming-march/feed/0Trailer Drops for BAD APPLES Coming to VOD this Februaryhttp://www.ravenousmonster.com/movies-tv/trailer-drops-bad-apples-coming-vod-february/
http://www.ravenousmonster.com/movies-tv/trailer-drops-bad-apples-coming-vod-february/#respondTue, 16 Jan 2018 23:50:21 +0000http://www.ravenousmonster.com/?p=5678Never mind the fact that as I type this it’s a snowy, cold day in the middle of January. Filmmaker Bryan Coyne is unleashing a Halloween nightmare (by way of Uncork’d Entertainment) and he’s doing it in…February?

Yes, February. But the important thing is that the movie—Bad Apples—stars writer/actress/filmmaker and one of my favorite people, Brea Grant. AND…it looks pretty good.

Read on for the full press release and watch the trailer for Bad Apples below, Horror Fans….

They’re Rotten to the Core.

On Halloween night, two malevolent children terrorize a young innocent couple in their home, subjecting them to a Halloween they will never forget in Bad Apples, premiering on VOD this February from Uncork’d Entertainment.

It’s Halloween night, and two “bad apples” decide to play some wicked tricks on the one house in a suburban cul-de-sac that is not celebrating Halloween. They terrorize a young couple in their home and these tricks become increasingly more sinister as the night progresses, finally ending in a Halloween the entire neighborhood will never forget.

]]>http://www.ravenousmonster.com/movies-tv/trailer-drops-bad-apples-coming-vod-february/feed/0The Shape of Water Movie Reviewhttp://www.ravenousmonster.com/movies-tv/shape-of-water-movie-review/
http://www.ravenousmonster.com/movies-tv/shape-of-water-movie-review/#respondMon, 08 Jan 2018 23:20:09 +0000http://www.ravenousmonster.com/?p=5673You watch any pre-George Romero horror movie and you know the monster is going to go after the hot blond. There’s a certain Victorian sensibility to this, the contrast of the innocent maiden with the creature of darkness, though of course the trope was already old when St. George liberated a virgin princess from a predatory dragon. Sometimes the attraction makes a kind of logical sense; King Kong and Fay Wray are both higher primates, right? But what exactly does the Gill Man want with Julie Adams in The Creature from the Black Lagoon? Surely a Devonian monster isn’t lusting after a ‘50s B-movie starlet, is it? Maybe. In The Shape of Water, Guillermo del Toro asks, with characteristic brilliance, how exactly we define “monster.”

Set in the early 1960s, Shape takes as its protagonist Elisa Esposito (Sally Hawkins), a mute woman who works as a janitor at a military facility. Isolated by her inability to speak, Elisa lives a lonely existence, with only her talkative coworker Zelda (Octavia Spencer) and artist neighbor Giles (Richard Jenkins) as friends. Until one day, when ruthless Colonel Richard Strickland (Michael Shannon) brings a strange aquatic creature (Doug Jones, in all his contorted grace) to the facility for storage, unintentionally sparking an unforeseen romance for Elisa.

The performances in Shape are solid. The fact that Hawkins and Jones are able to generate such chemistry is a testament to the acting chops of both, and Spencer’s comic talents are well on-display as Zelda. Shannon’s role as the brutal Strickland retreads some of the same territory he tackled as fanatical Prohibition agent Nelson Van Alden in Boardwalk Empire, but hey, that’s what character actors are made for and Shannon once again turns out a satisfyingly detestable villain. Fellow Boardwalk Empire alum Michael Stuhlbarg capably portrays Robert Hoffstetler, a conflicted scientist with a dangerous secret.

Shape is probably del Toro’s most thematically complex work, rich with subtext and deconstructions. Hawkins’s atypical beauty is certainly a contrast to pinup girl Julie Adams, but in a film that questions appearances and traditional roles, she’s a perfect fit for the Amphibian Man’s bride. If the romance between an aquatic monster and a human being strikes us as monstrous, we’re invited to consider the plight of Giles, whose homosexuality would have been considered a diseased aberration in the era the film portrays. Just as del Toro contrasted fantastic monsters with human evil in Pan’s Labyrinth and The Devil’s Backbone, The Shape of Water shows us the monstrousness of the amoral Cold War and institutionalized prejudice of the ‘60s.

For all its complexity and beautiful cinematography, Shape has its faults. The ending has a deus ex machina quality that begs some logical questions. Midway through the film, Elisa and the Amphibian Man share a creaky ‘60s-style song and dance interlude that comes off more corny than poignant. The Shape of Water doesn’t quite reach the perfection of Pan’s Labyrinth, but silver medal del Toro is most directors’ rhodium. Check it out, even if you’re not a fan of love stories.

]]>http://www.ravenousmonster.com/movies-tv/shape-of-water-movie-review/feed/0Wild Eye Releases Trailer for THE DEVIL’S WELL Coming to DVD January 23http://www.ravenousmonster.com/movies-tv/wild-eye-releases-trailer-devils-well-coming-dvd-january-23/
http://www.ravenousmonster.com/movies-tv/wild-eye-releases-trailer-devils-well-coming-dvd-january-23/#respondTue, 02 Jan 2018 23:14:54 +0000http://www.ravenousmonster.com/?p=5668Wild Eye Releasing will start the year off with some tried and true satanic shenanigans with The Devil’s Well, director Kurtis Spieler’s tale about a group of paranormal investigators that goes back after one of their own who disappeared at the titular location a year prior. Is the malevolent well a portal straight to hell…or something else?

Read on for the full press release and trailer, Horror Fans….

Get your first big scare of the New Year with Kurtis Spieler’s spine-chilling The Devil’s Well, on DVD 1/23 from Wild Eye Releasing.

Karla Marks mysteriously vanishes while conducting a paranormal investigation with her husband into the Devil’s Well, an underground location reported to be a gateway straight into hell, and the site of ongoing strange phenomenon. A year after her disappearance, a group of investigators go back to uncover the truth about Karla, and are faced with evil forces greater than they ever imagined.

Winner of the Gold Award at the Spotlight Horror Film Awards, and featuring a superb line-up including Bryan Manley Davis (Sheep Skin), Chris Viemeister (Bridge and Tunnel), David Alexander (Thelema the Equinox Diaries), Kristen Seavey(“Nightwing: Escalation”), and Anne-Marie Mueschke (“Siberia”), The Devil’s Well is full to the top brick with bloodcurdling chills. Look for it 1/23 on DVD.

]]>http://www.ravenousmonster.com/movies-tv/wild-eye-releases-trailer-devils-well-coming-dvd-january-23/feed/0Trailer Drops for James Crow’s HOUSE OF SALEMhttp://www.ravenousmonster.com/movies-tv/trailer-drops-james-crows-house-salem/
http://www.ravenousmonster.com/movies-tv/trailer-drops-james-crows-house-salem/#respondWed, 27 Dec 2017 22:35:02 +0000http://www.ravenousmonster.com/?p=5663Filmmaker James Crow’s House of Salem has one thing going for it, for sure: a cool idea. While the film’s title is a little nondescript, the synopsis below piques our interest here at House of RavMon and the trailer speaks for itself.

Read on for the devilish details courtesy of Wild Eye Releasing’s press release and view the trailer below, Horror Fans….

Don’tBreathe meets You’re Next in writer-director James Crow’s ‘’brooding and compelling horror with a crime thriller twist” House of Salem, streaming on VOD 1/23/18 from Wild Eye Releasing.

Kidnappers become a child’s unlikely protectors after discovering they have unwittingly been set up to take part in a satanic ritual. As they begin to uncover the truth of the house in which they find themselves trapped, they must battle demonic forces and uncover a legacy of over a hundred years of murder in the name of the Devil.

Jessica Arterton, Jack Brett Anderson and Liam Kelly star in “an excellent watch” House of Salem, premiering on VOD this January from Wild Eye Releasing.

]]>http://www.ravenousmonster.com/movies-tv/trailer-drops-james-crows-house-salem/feed/0Watch the Trailer for CANNIBAL FARM Coming this Januaryhttp://www.ravenousmonster.com/movies-tv/watch-trailer-cannibal-farm-coming-january/
http://www.ravenousmonster.com/movies-tv/watch-trailer-cannibal-farm-coming-january/#respondTue, 19 Dec 2017 23:05:09 +0000http://www.ravenousmonster.com/?p=5658The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, being the progenitor of the “rural family of cannibals” horror movie trope, is arguably the most oft-imitated fright flick of the past half-century. Doing so is no sin. Rather, it’s resulted in more than a few awesome movies through the years. However, based on the trailer, calling Cannibal Farm a mere TCM homage would be an understatement of monstrous proportions.

Again, though, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, some of the imagery on display in this trailer would have been welcome in this year’s legitimate claim to the TCM throne, Leatherface, which was okay, but not stellar.

Cannibal Farm should look compelling to the blood-n’-guts crowd and fright fans at large might want to keep their eyes on this one as well. Read on, Horror Fans, for the full press release and the trailer….

Even Leatherface runs at the sight of Hunt Hansen and his Chainsaw!

Scare season starts early in 2018 with High Octane Pictures’ Cannibal Farm, open for slicing and dicing from January 2!

From filmmaker Charlie Steeds and starring Kate Marie Davies, Barrington De La Roche, David Lenik, Rowena Bentley, Toby Wynn-Davies, and Peter Cosgrove, a terrifying, bloody lattice of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Friday the 13th and two gallons of two stroke!

The Harver family head out on an idyllic summer camping trip where they can bury past tensions and enjoy some family bonding. But when their camp is sabotaged by an unseen intruder in the night, they head to the nearby creepy old farm desperate for help, where vengeful farmer Hunt Hansen and his hideously deformed son aren’t farming animals…

This January, fight to survive or get eaten alive! Cannibal Farm on VOD January 2 from High Octane Pictures.